Building comparison
head to head
Elite DangerousvsSalt and Sanctuary
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is variance, and it is a single point.
Elite Dangerous
Optimization · Practiced Mastery
Galaxy-spanning space sim about flight and trade.
Salt and Sanctuary
Optimization · Practiced Mastery
A 2D Souls-like with metroidvania exploration.
Elite Dangerous leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Salt and Sanctuary leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Elite DangerousSalt and Sanctuary
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 6
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Elite Dangerous
Flight controls, docking, combat aim
Salt and Sanctuary
Souls-like timing in 2D
Reads2 vs 2
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Elite Dangerous
Light PvP reads, mostly PvE
Salt and Sanctuary
Scripted bosses with telegraphs
Variance3 vs 2
Elite Dangerous leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Elite Dangerous
Procedural galaxy, mission variance
Salt and Sanctuary
Loot drops
Optimization8 vs 7
Elite Dangerous leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Elite Dangerous
Ship build, trade routes, engineering grind
Salt and Sanctuary
Skill tree builds and gear routing
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.